Stoker bars

[Wowbagger]

I have bought a set of these stoker bars and have just put some lovely bar tape on them with a view to offering different stokers different riding positions (two of us are off on a tour next month). I bought the 44cm bars on the basis that my lovely accompice is rather slim of the shoulder and I thought the 47cm ones would possibly be too wide.

However, I didn't consider the fatness of the arse of the chap up front and it looks very likely that the poor stoker would have her thumbs crushed if we use those. We can experiment with a few different positions (oo-err) but I'm sorry to say that I don't think it's going to work very well.

Bugger!

[The French Tandem]

Hi,

We faced exactly the same problem! I'm quite large on the lower end of my back, but my lovely stoker is rather small. We use exactly this bar, 47 cm version. The extra width won't cause any problem for the stoker, as long as you keep her bar slightly closer to the saddle than on her solo bike. Anyway, on most tandems the stoker have a more cramped position, so the extra width is not an issue.

Alain

[L CC]

We had to change the stoker's bars on the Swallow, as the pilot's "fixer's thighs" were wider than the (drops with ergo levers) bars. You could get a horse's back end in the pair that's on there now.

[clarion]

That's exactly the sort of bars we have on our Galaxy.  Works well, but they do facilitate contact between the fixer thighs and the stoker's hands.

I have the same bars on my fixed, as it happens, but no one to stroke my thighs (nor thighs to stroke)

[LittleWheelsandBig]

The narrowest width of stoker bars that stay clear of the captains arse/legs can vary depending on height and stoker stem length. Obviously a long stoker stem can only be used if the stoker is short or the rear top tube is long. Most British tandems have short rear top tubes, so stoker stems tend to be correspondingly short. USA-ians tandems tend to have longer rear ends and accordingly longer stems and narrower bars can be more appropriate.

[L CC]

Of all the dimensions that can effect comfort on a bike, I'd've thought stoker bar width was fairly minor. I can't imagine being more or less comfy on wider or narrower ones- I mostly ride on the tops (as the tape destruction testifies) and the sides are for variation. Or am I missing something?